CHAPTER V. 



VOYAGE TO THE PLATA; 



With some Account of the Provinces of Parana and Uruguay, 

 A. D. 1808 1813. 



PREPARATIONS FOR SAILING. BRAZILIAN SEAMEN. UNCOMMON SALTNESS OF THE 



OCEAN. BILLOWS. RIO DE LA PLATA. DETENTION IN THE RIVER. CHA- 

 RACTER OF THE PLATA. FISHES. NEWLY ACQUIRED BRAZILIAN TERRITORY. 



ETYMOLOGY. PROVINCE OF PARANA. RIVERS. LAKES. SOIL. PRODUCE. 



matte'. TOWNS.— — PROVINCE OF URUGUAY. BOUNDARIES. CASTELHOS.— — 



NATURE OF THE COUNTRY. ST^ TEREZA. MALDONADO. ADVENTURES THERE. 



CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. MONTE VIDEO. OTHER TOWNS. HERDS. 



RIVERS. 



THE Market of Rio de Janeiro being greatly overstocked, British 

 Merchants soon began to look out for a distant and more extensive sphere 

 of operation. Together with others in similar circumstances, my views 

 were turned towards the Southern Coast, and ultimately to the Plata j 

 accordingly arrangements were made for proceeding to Santos, St. 

 Catharine's, and Rio Grande, and, should it prove necessary, to Monte 

 Video, and Buenos Ayres. 



The first Fleet from England having arrived in July, a duty of 

 twenty-five per cent, ad valorem, was imposed upon goods imported, 

 and no drawback was allowed on sending them to any other port, 

 even to one without the Portuguese dominion. Our Consul, Sir James 

 Gambier, supported by Admiral, Sir Sidney Smith, had remonstrated 

 on the impolicy, as well as hardship, of the case, and proposed that 

 British manufactures re-exported should pay only a transit duty of 

 four per cent, and that they should be inspected, not unpacked. But the 



